Susan W
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Location: Memphis, TN

container plant suggestions

Given are a couple of nice concrete planters on the rail of my front porch. One is shady all day, and closest to entrance. The other gets some sun.

I have had impatience in them, with the shady doing well and pretty at the entrance. Too sunny in the other one. Then bare all winter. I have used Boston ferns, again a fair season solution.
For evergreen have put in ivies. This winter pooped, perhaps as I forgot to water (hanging head low)
Having nothing in the winter looks bad at the entrance, and the neighborhood kitties think it is for their potty.

I noticed the pachysandra at the garden center and wheels turning. Have any of you used this an an evergreen container plant?

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Kisal
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I've used pachysandra in the ground, particularly under trees, but not in containers. What are the interior dimensions of the containers, and how many hours of sun does the sunny one get? Also, is it morning sun or afternoon sun?

Susan W
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Location: Memphis, TN

The planters are about 4' long, 1' wide and deep, and have good drainage. In looking at them again and situation, may go back to ivy (the variegated is pretty!). It cascades, so has some visual appeal from straight on, where-as pachysandra grows up, and better for looking from above. But I am open to ideas!

For now they are totally charming with dead ivy cascading. It will stay that way for a couple of weeks until I can deal with it.

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applestar
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I hesitate to suggest this because in all likelyhood, it will escape your container and try to take over the world, but variegated Vinca minor 'Ralph Shugert' is rather decorative with a burst of blue flowers in early~mid spring, sporadic blooms through the season, and another farewell burst in fall. Shade-proof, drought-proof. Unkillable, really. I think I started with 3 plants, long time ago. Now, it's all I can do to keep them in check. One year, I got it in my head to put a little division in a planter at the front porch corner, and sometimes, that's the only thing alive in there. I've just been adding seasonal plants in the container along with it.

I'm thinking of dividing my blue-flowered Iris cristata and plant it in that container. I think they'll complement each other. I also got a colorful collection of Heucheras at the farmers market last year.

For the sunny planter, Hens and Chicks? (THAT'll keep the kitties away!) I have a clay container that is just bursting with them -- literallly, though the breaking of the container is probably more weather related. A purple-flowered Aquilegia keeps growing out of the middle of it, self-reseeding every year. It only gets mid-AM~mid-PM sun. I want to make a sort of a raised bed/trough garden out of concrete cinder blocks along one edge of the patio and move them there. At that same farmers market, there was a vendor that was selling a collection of different variety hens and chicks. I think if she's back this year, I might do something with that. The hens and chicks REFUSE to grow in the ground. I keep trying to start a patch on the ground and they keep dying.

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Kisal
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Depending on the intensity of the sunlight, the Vinca might be a nice choice. I wouldn't call it unkillable, though, and never had it spread anywhere. It was growing in a raised bed built under a tree, and it died after I had the tree removed.

Susan W
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Location: Memphis, TN

Thanks for suggestions and input. I'll be checking out different plants.



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